44 AMERICANWAY
DECEMBER 15 2008
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nation. In part, she says, the popularity is
due to practical issues, such as the ability
of SUVs and other large vehicles to handle
crumbling roads chokedwithother drivers.
“They have a lot of traffic issues. The traf-
fic issues are probably worse thanwhat we
have here,” says Caldwell, who is based in
SantaMonica, California.
But that’s justoneof thereasonsRussians
findSUVs attractive: In the landwhereLe-
vi’sblue jeanswereonceconsidereda luxury
and where nondescript boxlike Ladas were
the only cars available, SUVs are a potent
status symbol, desired by those who have
grownwealthy, thanks to the country’s vast
and valuable oil and gas fields. The price of
fuel, too, which the government subsidizes,
isalsorelatively low— less thanhalf thecost
ofWesternEurope’sgas.Therealsoseems to
be little, if any, environmental guilt associ-
atedwithdrivinganSUV there,which isnot
the case in the United States. “They don’t
really have a greenmovement. They’re not
interested inhybrids,”Caldwell says. “Idon’t
think thatmind-sethasquite sunk inyet.”
It’snot justRussiathathasanappetite for
SUVs and other large vehicles. Other East-
ernEuropeancountries, like theUkraine,as
well asnations in theMiddleEast andWest
Africa, also are major big-car buyers. And
as more American drivers shy away from
SUVs, the available inventory swells, which
drives down prices. Between May 2007
and May 2008, wholesale prices of large
luxury SUVs in the United States plum-
meted from roughly $32,000 to $26,000.
At the other end of the spectrum, traders
who sell usedSUVs overseas typicallymake
between$500 and$1,500 in profit per ve-
hicleselling tobuyers incountrieswithhigh
demandand strong currencies—evenafter
factoring in shipping costs, which can run
ashighas$1,500per auto.
ONE INDICATIONOFHOWBRISK
the trade
is: how booked the ships are that carry ve-
hicles from the United States to countries
around the world. From the Port of Balti-
more, for example, the number of privately
owned vehicles shipped overseas in 2006
was 18,600. In2007, that numberwent up
to 27,000, and by the first half of 2008, it
hadalready reachedalmost 14,300.
Susan
Serrano,
national
market-
ing manager-OEM for Höegh Autolin-
ers, a Norwegian shipping company that
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